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Today in class I used Adobe Muse to try test the interactivity of my app. This test was to show the use of basic use of user interactivity within the app.

Test interfaces shown in different colours to show different screens

As it is just a test i didn’t use my finished design on Adobe Muse in case it didn’t go to plan. On the test interface as you can see below there is just the home screen and a button. The plan is to create buttons within the app that can take the user to another screen of that app. So what i did was make a template on the master page. Then i copied the elements on the master page onto another page making, the pages acting as the screens. Then i created a button that would be a hyperlink to connect other screens together.

then once i did that with all the other screens i rendered a preview. Next I went onto Quick-Time player and recorded the screen as i clicked onto each button that would take me onto another screen. As you can see from the test below it was a success and i can use Adobe Muse to create my app.

The first thing before animating the episode there is a script made. before the final script, we have the draft. the episode writer would take two weeks to write a draft. if he doesn’t like the draft he has four to six weeks to re-write it. When the script is done they then move onto storyboards. within the storyboards, you would see the position of the character, the way the camera should be and possible sound effects. What they do is assign a small group of storyboard artists and then they will go through the whole story correcting the wrongs and making it sound fluent and better. Later on, down the show, they moved to show animatics “a series of images paired with the voice track that would be edited on tapes”. Then the storyboard needs to be checked and again to make sure that everything makes sense to the viewer. storyboard revisions have about 2 weeks to fully make sure that is completed. Then after the storyboard, we get to the layout. the layout process is when they bring the ideas into life. Each animator would be given a character or given the role of a background artist. they would use the software Pencil Check Pro to roughly sketch/animate the first 15 scenes of an episode. Characters are drawn to match the model sheet. the sheet is a page of various poses and expressions for the shows individual character. Then once that is done they move on screen planniong where the specialist would animate the more faster flashier scenes if needed. with all of that done two checkers review everything to make sure that everything is perfect. Then they send all of it to a studio in South Korea to animate it the animation studio will be in charge of making sure the frames pre second are smooth. Then once that is all done it is shipped back and ready to be shown to the public.

Before Simpsons went digital it used the traditional process such as Cel animation. Cel animation is a transparent sheet on which objects are drawn or painted for traditional hand-drawn animation. the characters are drawn on cels and laid over a static background drawing. This reduces the number of times an image has to be redrawn and enables studios to split up the production process to different specialised animation teams. The process is time consuming the lead animator will make rough sketches of the key frames in a scene on individual cel sheets. Then the assistant animator will then look over it to make sure it isn’t so rough and make it look smoother. what they would do is clean up the line work, maybe adding in a bit more to the picture. After the drawings are done on the cel sheets they would use the process called a pencil test. what a pencil test is essentially doing an outline of the animation of the rough drawings. After the pencil test is approved, an artist would come and clean up traces of the roughs linework so the consistency from frame to frame looks fluid. Then the artist would pass it onto the inker who transfers the cleaned-up drawings to the paint department for it to then be given colour to the page. “Backgrounds of scenes are painted by special background artists. Because the background is seen for longer periods of time, and cover more area than any other single item of animation, they are created with lots of detail and attention to shading, lighting and perspective.” Then when that is all done the inked cel are ready for filming. They are then given to the camera man to take photos of the backgrounds as well with the right cels that goes with it. The animation, vocal tracks, music and soundtracks are all done together and edited together. Then its ready to be made into the final finished product. the animation is then sent to the to another studio to complete the other sounds. Each step to creating a cel animation requires a lot of work and time, which why shows such as The Simpsons uses teams of people to get the work done.

Animation dates back to the 30 000 B.C during the cavemen times when they used to put paint like substance and put it over the walls to present a story. Then within the 18th and the 19th centuries within the year of 1877, the Praxinoscope was made it was considered to be the first prototypes of animation. Then within the start of the early 20th century was the start of the silent era, iconic animations such as Mighty Mouse. Betty Boop and Woody Woodpecker. in 1906 the first fully animated film using stop motion was made. in 1914 Felix the cat was made he was remembered as one of the first animated movie stars. throughout the year’s animation started being a part of a popular culture. Then what was called to be the golden age of animation came through. which within that age gave companies such as Walt Disney, Warner Brothers and Fleischer. This was around the time these company put their foot in the door and decide to create their own stuff. So in 1937, Walt Disney showed Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs the first animation to feature hand-drawn animation. Then as technology expanded within 1860-1980 so did animation. people started to get TVs. by the mid-80s, a lot of children channels came out such as Disney Channel and Nickelodeon. technology expand even more within the 1980’s-2014 and animators were given computers to use to try out new ways to show their animation. they stumbled across CGI. Of course, this was a revolution animation was going 3D and the public loved the new approach, in 1964 the first full CGI animated short film was created.

I see hope as putting faith into something that you want to happen. The definition of hope varies from person to person.

Hope is presented in different ways in media. It’s shown in movies, books and games.

In the transformers movie the autobots lost hope as their leader died in battle, for then him to return and then the autobots restoring hope and winning the battle.

Hope plays a big part in media as it can be the main plot or the source of a protagonist/ antagonist reason to carry on pursuing their goals. without hope many characters in media would crumble at the first hurdle. Hope can be portrayed in lots of different ways and can incorporated into different types of emotions. such as feeling determined which is a feeling that spurs on characters to keep going.

In today class we recorded the way we walk in pairs. We used a variety of walks to use as a reference. The reference was used to help with the animated walk cycles. Using a human body made it easier to see where the body dips and how it moves while walking. During this activity, I learnt that there are many things that make a walk. Such as posture, pace and strides. if a person has their head hung low and takes slower and small steps you can tell that they aren’t happy. Whereas if they walked with their chest out and a more of a quicker pace you can say that that person is happy.

To ideas develop my ideas i used a spider diagram and then just expanding my ideas. my ideas changed when i was thinking of an art style to choose. with the art style that i picked i had to change the way the story would go. otherwise it would be too complicated and complex for me to do within the time i had for the project. Based on the skills i have i could not do it the way i would of wanted to.

To be really honest i am happy the way my final product came out although it wasn’t what i wanted it to be it still came out to be something i am happy with. There are alot of things i would of changed. The first thing is, if it looked like how i envisioned it to be. I had big plans for my animation and i didn’t meet them. I can say i did a great job setting up the foundation of my big animation but i didn’t put them all together in time. Thats something i wish i could of changed. If the effects of my animation were to the standard that i am happy with.

I am happy with the software i used i am comfortable with photoshop, there isn’t much adjustments i would make to it.

I am happy with the colour scheme that i chose. keeping everything black and giving colour to important objets. I believe that the simplicity of the colour scheme helps the viewer to understand the roles of the characters of in the story.

The product that i wanted to create and the one i ended up with are two different things. although that maybe the case i’m still happy about it. The animation did take long to make as i broke it down a scene at a time. I was too focused on it being perfectionist and therefore lost track of time and did not complete the final project that i wanted. my time could of been used much more effectively if i shared my time equally between wordpress and the animation. Then i would of definitely would of produce the final i envisioned.